Law and regulation

While some bankers are secretly gleeful the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not yet have a director, they are the ones likely to pay a heavy price as a result.

The first three failures of the quarter — two in Colorado, one in Illinois — late Friday cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $590 million and brought the year's toll to 51.

David Wilcox was named director of the Federal Reserve Board's division of research and statistics. He will begin Oct. 1.

After months of complaints about overzealous examiners, frustrated bankers took it a step further by pressing a House panel to pass legislation forcing regulators to be more lenient.

Bair will join the Pew Charitable Trusts as a senior advisor starting Sept. 7. Meanwhile, Martin Gruenberg, the FDIC's vice chairman under Bair, was set to assume the position of acting chairman at the close of business Friday.

The Federal Reserve Board has given the troubled Commonwealth Bankshares Inc. in Norfolk, Va., until the end of July to either raise fresh capital or find a buyer.

In a move that seems to parallel U.S. policies, a consortium of top French banks has agreed to cut debit card interchange rates inside the nation's borders by as much as 36% in response to a price-fixing investigation by a government agency.

What financially significant news was in the Fed's final Durbin regulations release on June 29? An objective measure is the impact of the release on stock prices.

The Federal Reserve Board just gave the biggest banks in the United States a $4 billion annual present and flagrantly disregarded the law to do so.

In an eerie parallel with U.S. policies, a consortium of top French banks have agreed to cut debit card interchange rates inside the nation’s borders by as much as 36% in response to a price-fixing investigation by a government agency.

After months of fretting, ISOs, agents and processors are viewing the upcoming cap on debit card interchange fees as a golden opportunity to increase margins, boost revenue and gain market share.

In an effort to further cool down an overheating credit card market, South Korea’s financial regulator has announced new limits for card companies’ operations.

While the topic of a House hearing Thursday was supposed to be about mortgage servicing standards, the target was really the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Treasury Department released details Thursday about the first wave of capital released under the much-anticipated Small Business Lending Fund.

WASHINGTON — Nearly three years to the day of seizing IndyMac Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. launched formal action against its former chief executive, saying he "negligently" allowed the thrift to keep making risky loans despite signs of market stress.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay $228 million to settle criminal and civil charges stemming from former employees' fraudulent bid-rigging of at least 141 municipal bond-related reinvestment contracts involving state and local issuers and conduit borrowers in at least 31 states over eight years.

As the five members of the FDIC board took their seats Wednesday, the elephant in the room was where they would be sitting next time.

Visa Inc. says some of its contracts with bank card issuers must be “redone” to comply with new debit card regulations that take effect this year, but most already meet the requirements.

Many prepaid card companies will be forced to strip away features — or even change bank partners — if they want to qualify for exemptions from the new caps on debit interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced three written agreements.